


Host

by zombie_honeymoon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Outer Space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-02-13 13:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombie_honeymoon/pseuds/zombie_honeymoon
Summary: Prisoners Kakuzu and Hidan are used as scouts on new, dangerous planets for exploratory missions. Kakuzu is sent on a solo mission looking for water sources and signs of life, what he finds may cost him his life.On indefinite hiatus - being marked complete.
Relationships: Hidan/Kakuzu (Naruto)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 49
Collections: Naruto Sci-fi Week 2019





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Naruto Sci-Fi Week Day 2 Prompts- First Contact and From the Void. I feel like this fits both prompts.
> 
> This is the first time I'm writing anything sci-fi, and I was surprised I was able to get the first chapter done in time, please enjoy!

“Be careful down there.” Hidan said as he squeezed Kakuzu’s shoulder.

“I’ll be fine, it’s not like it’s the first time I’m doing this.” But no matter how many times he had been sent on an exploration mission, he was nervous every time. Each time it was a new place, with new and unknown dangers. 

Kakuzu held Hidan’s gaze and nodded. They were prisoners for life, sent aboard scouting ships to do work no one else wanted to do. The fact they had survived so long without falling to their deaths, or getting killed by creatures or alien life forms already inhabiting the planets they were sent to explore made them more valuable. 

They were treated better than others, having skills earned through experience others did not, making them less expendable. Yet at the end of the day, one could argue it had been luck and nothing more. 

Hidan had a bad feeling he just couldn’t shake ever since he woke up. He had been unable to eat the breakfast that had been delivered to their room. Hot cereal and a piece of bread. The two bites he had managed to choke down sat in his stomach like lead. 

As Kakuzu looked at him and their eyes met, he felt it. It was just like the first time their eyes met. He had known Kakuzu was ‘the one’. But this time, Hidan knew he was never going to see him again.

“Wait!” Hidan grabbed his hand as he started to walk away, “Kakuzu, don’t. I don’t want you to go today.”  
  
“We have no choice, Hidan. I can’t refuse. You know this. Everything will be fine.”

“And what if it’s not?”  
  
With a sigh, Kakuzu shrugged, “Then it’s not. If I refuse to go down to scout that planet like they want, they will execute me, and not just by putting a bullet through my head. They’ll float me out into space where I’ll suffocate. We’ve lived past our time, Hidan. When we were arrested, we should have been put to death and you know it. Every day we live past that, we’ve overstayed and I feel like we’re going to pay for it.”  
  
“That is total bullshit and you know it! If we were meant to die, we would have.” He lowered his voice, “We can take the guards. Overpower them, take their weapons. You know we can, they’ve gotten comfortable with us, they let us have a room together. They… they trust you. They like you, Kakuzu. They’ll never expect it after all this time.”  
  
Kakuzu shook his head, “And then what? Can you fly this ship? Do you know anyone who can? We would eventually run out of food and fuel and just be floating through space until we starve to death.”  
  
Hidan knew it was true, neither of them could operate the ship. None of the other prisoners could either, most of them hated him and Kakuzu. They were jealous and would turn against them the first chance they got. 

It was useless, Kakuzu was right, he had no choice but to do as he was told and Hidan hated it.

“Sooner or later, Hidan, we all have to die. If I die down there today, know that I died doing something that I kind of enjoyed doing.”  
  
Hidan gave him a half smile, “You could die doing me, you actually really enjoy that.”  
  
“I’d rather not die at all.” He kissed Hidan’s forehead, “I’ll be back, I promise.”

Reaching under his shirt, Hidan lifted out his rosary. He had never taken it off and hesitated, then lifted it over his head and placed it around Kakuzu’s neck, “Take this. I need it back, so don’t get fucking killed, alright Kakuzu?”  
  
Kakuzu nodded, looking down at it. The silver was shone in the light, and he tucked it under his shirt, “I’ll bring it back to you, Hidan.”  
  
Hidan watched him leave, a tightness in his chest and he wanted to go after him but the guards blocked the door and pressed the button to close it and all Hidan could do was wait and pray for Kakuzu to come back.

* * *

A small craft landed on the barren alien planet, expertly piloted by Sai. Kakuzu was thankful for the smooth landing, though he always held on to the arms of the chair even though he had a safety harness on. “You can let go now, Kakuzu.” Sai told him, “You must be very scared to grip the chair like that.”  
  
“I’m not scared, I just don’t like being jostled around.”

“Then it’s a good thing they assigned me to this mission today.” He gave Kakuzu a bland smile before continuing, pointing to a map on the control panel, “There’s a cave, just over the ridge. You are to go there and collect samples of the rocks and pay special attention to signs of life and water. From the images we have, it appears there was once a water source there at one time. Understood?”  
  
“Of course I understand, I’m not stupid.”

“No need to get testy. Remember, the communications team on the main ship will be listening and watching, while I can only listen. As long as nothing hostile shows up, I will be waiting here. You have three and a half hours worth of oxygen. Have a good time out there.” Sai gave him an almost chilling smile, it seemed all wrong on his face, and Kakuzu wished he would just stop but he had gotten used to it. 

Kakuzu grunted in response as he rose from his seat and walked to the back of the craft. After making sure his helmet was on and sealed properly, he took the few supplies he was allowed, attached them to his belt and then slammed his fist on the button that opened the hatch. 

A timer, illuminated in blue, shown on his helmet showed three hours and thirty minutes and began counting down as he exited the small craft. The door shut behind him and he found himself alone.

_ ‘Kakuzu,’ _ it was Sai, _ ‘you can hear me?’ _  
  
“Affirmative.” 

_ ‘Kakashi, Genma?’ _Sai asked.

_ ‘Yes, Sai, we can hear both of you. Kakuzu, we have visuals as well.’ _Came Kakashi’s voice in Kakuzu’s ear piece. They would monitor him, sometimes telling him to check something out, but most of the time they let him work without interfering. 

It was Hidan they had to keep an eye on, as he usually got sidetracked when he found something interesting that was not part of the mission objective.

Kakuzu found that he enjoyed his time alone on the planets he scouted. It beat sitting in a jail cell, and sure beat execution. He had only a small laser weapon, while most prisoners got nothing and placed a hand on it at his side. He had often fantasized of being brought to a planet that could sustain life, killing the crew member who had accompanied him and then staying and living out his days free, or as free as he could be. But it seemed that was never in the cards. 

He walked over the dusty, rocky ground, making his way up the ridge as the strange sun burned red through the atmosphere. Never once did he look back. He looked forward and up, at two large moons, and Kakuzu wished Hidan was with him to see it. The crew rarely sent them down together, afraid they would kill their guard and try to escape. They were right, if ever presented the opportunity, that’s exactly what they would do. 

At the cave, he saw his timer, still glowing blue, showing three hours left, the seconds counting down. 

Kakuzu looked around the outside entrance of the cave, then knelt to look for footprints or tracks. Seeing nothing but what he decided was windswept sand, he went inside. It was dark and he turned on the light on top of his helmet, illuminating the cavernous space with a bright white light.

Sweeping the light around, he made sure the ground was solid and move forward with caution. As he moved deeper inside, the light from outside seemed to be swallowed up by the inky blackness in front of him and he moved slower, looking down to make sure the ground didn’t fall out from under him.

Coming to a stop after several hundred yards inside, Kakuzu looked down to see he had come to a ledge and he knelt, shining the light down into the blackness below. He couldn’t see past a few meters and backed up, not wanting to lose his balance and go over the edge.

Casting the light across, he couldn’t even see the other side. It was pitch black, like a void that had no end. 

He didn’t like that place, Kakuzu decided, something about it made the hair on the back of his neck stand on edge and Hidan’s warning to be careful rang in his ears. 

_ ‘What is that?’ _ Kakashi asked, his voice crackling through Kakuzu’s helmet.

“I don’t know, some chasm.” Kakuzu replied. 

‘Don’t fall.’ Genma teased.

Kakuzu suppressed a sigh, he had a mission to complete. Rock samples, try to see if there is, or was, a water source. He moved away from the edge, and continued to explore.

* * *

With only an hour of oxygen left, Kakuzu began making his way back to the entrance of the cave. He had rock samples, and found what had once been a lake, but was now dried up, not a single drop left. There had been no signs of life either. 

As he passed by the ledge, he paused, curiosity getting the better of him. Kakuzu made his way to the edge and got down on his knees, his gloved hands gripping the edge as he peered over into the darkness. 

There was silence, and then he heard movement. 

_ ‘Kakuzu, what are you doing?’ _Kakashi’s voice crackled in his ears.

“I’m just taking a look. Did you hear that? It sounds like something’s down there.” 

_ ‘You think there’s something alive down there?’ _

_ ‘We didn’t hear anything. Can you see anything?’ _ Genma wanted to know.

“You can see as much as I can.” Kakuzu huffed. It was too dark, “I want to lower a light down there.” 

_ ‘Get back to the ship with Sai. We can send you down again tomorrow.’ _ Kakashi told him, _ ‘Your oxygen levels are getting low.’ _

A quick glance at his timer and it showed yellow, forty five minutes left. What he wanted to do would only take a few minutes, and his walk back to the ship where Sai waited was downhill. He could make it in time. 

Removing a smaller flashlight from his suit, Kakuzu took the cable he had attached to his belt and tied it around the loop on the flashlight. 

_ ‘What’s he doing?’ _

_ ‘Not listening, that’s what.’ _

_ ‘Hidan must be wearing off on him.’ _Sai said, joining the conversation.

Kakuzu tuned out their voices and tossed the light down into the abyss below and looked over the edge.

The rock wall was smooth, like it had been carved out with a blade, but he still couldn’t tell how far across it was, or how deep. 

And then he heard it again, a slithering sound and and he watched as a moving mass encompassed his light and he felt a weight on the rope. Feeling himself being pulled forward towards the edge, Kakuzu let go and scrambled backwards just as a tendril latched onto the top of the ledge.

_ ‘Kakuzu, what’s going on? What the hell is that?’ _ Kakashi wanted to know.

“There’s something here.”

_ ‘Get out of there!’ _Genma shouted.

Kakuzu watched as more and more tendrils climbed over the edge of the chasm, making their way towards him. They loomed over him and as he tried to get up to run, the tendrils wrapped around his ankles and legs and then crashed down on him.

* * *

  
On the ship, Kakashi and Genma stared at the screen. 

“What the hell is that?!” Genma shouted, yanking his headphones off, not wanting to hear what he knew was the sound of someone being torn apart.

_ ‘Kakuzu?!’ _ Sai called but all he could hear from Kakuzu was screams. _ ‘Kakashi, Genma, what’s going on? What do you see? Do you have visuals?’ _ _  
_

“Sai.” Kakashi started, keeping his voice as calm as he could, though there was a tremor in it, “There is something in that cave. It got Kakuzu. Kakuzu is gone. You need to get out of there. Leave now. Don’t wait.” 

_ ‘Right. Preparing for lift-off,’ _ Sai said and began calling out each step as he went through it and Kakashi listened as the sounds of the craft coming to life drowned out the other sounds coming from Kakuzu’s microphone that he knew he would haunt his sleep. Several minutes later, Sai announced, _ ‘ETA is in one hour.’ _

“Good luck, we’ll see you when you get back.” Kakashi said and took off his headphones.

“We have to tell the captain. He’s not going to be happy about this.” Genma said as he watched the screen. It was dark, but every once in a while they saw something move and there were still sounds coming from his headphones.

“I know someone else who won’t be happy. Make sure we have extra guards on him when he finds out.” Kakashi said as he stood, and they left the communications room to report to the captain.


	2. Two

The waiting was the worst part. Locked in their room, all Hidan could do was pray for Kakuzu’s safe return. As each hour crawled past and Kakuzu still wasn’t back, his restlessness grew. The room was too large, too empty without Kakuzu in it. Hidan reached for his rosary only to find the familiar weight was gone.

Maybe he should have kept it… But he could still pray without it. So that’s what he did. Hidan prayed for Kakuzu’s safe return, for Jashin to watch over him, to protect him. Even if he was a heathen, he was Hidan’s heathen. 

The sound of several pairs of boots running back and forth in the hallways above interrupted his prayers and Hidan opened his eyes. That feeling of dread was back. Something wasn’t right.

A sound at the door and Hidan was on his feet, across the room and waiting to be let out only to hear extra locks set in place. He looked out to see whoever it was retreating as he banged on the door, shouting for them to let him out, to tell him what happened, to at least tell him Kakuzu was alive.

That night Hidan’s dinner was given to him through a slot in the door and he shoved his arm through, grabbing the wrist of whoever it was who brought it.

“Where’s Kakuzu?!” Hidan demanded, squeezing the slim wrist hard enough to feel the bones grind together, “Tell me! Or I crush your motherfucking wrist!”

“He’s dead!” Came the answer, Hidan knew that voice: Shikamaru. “Got what he deserved if you ask me, and eventually you will, too.” Before Hidan could let go, Shikamaru used his free hand to get out his taser, sending a jolt of electricity through Hidan’s hand and up his arm. 

Hidan cried out in pain as he fell backwards, his food landing on top of him and the floor. He ignored it, rolling over onto his side as he gasped and tried to catch his breath. 

“Enjoy your dinner, it’ll be the last you see like that for a while. I’ll be sure to make a report of your violent behavior. You’ll be in with the other prisoners soon enough. Rumour has it, they can’t wait to get their hands on you.” Shikamaru smirked as he peered in through the slot before shutting it, sealing it from the outside and then leaving.

* * *

Three days later he was allowed out of his room to eat with the other prisoners and found himself sitting across from Kisame, as Zabuza took the empty seat next to him.

“Eat.” Zabuza told him, “Or is our food not good enough for you?” He gave a snort.

“Leave him alone, maybe he’s just too sad to eat.” Kisame said, then turned his gaze across the table, “Are you too sad to eat, Hidan?”

“Fuck you both.” Hidan took a bite. It was pretty much the same food he had been served before, but after three days of nearly being starved for what he did he couldn’t eat much, his stomach protesting at each bite. And maybe Kisame was right and he was too sad to eat. He pushed the food around on his plate with a sigh. He had lost not only Kakuzu, but his pendant, too. The one material object that held any sort of value to him. The one thing that he had left to tie him to his beliefs.

After watching him for several minutes, Kisame leaned across the table and lowered his voice, “No one’s told you this, Hidan, but they’re sending me and Zabuza down there today to try and find out what’s living on that planet.”  
  
Hidan’s fork slipped from his fingers, falling to the floor with a clatter, it attracted the attention of the guards and he bent to pick it up, not wanting to give them any reason to come over and harass them. 

He had been hoping they would want to send him down, if they sent anyone back there at all. But he knew they would never choose him. He wouldn’t care about whatever mission he was given, only about finding Kakuzu’s body and trying to bring it back.

Kisame went on after a moment, “Danzo says if something’s alive down there, it’s worth exploring, but we all know he just wants to know what that thing is that killed Kakuzu, to see if he can exploit it for himself.”

Hidan didn’t care about that. He only cared about one thing: “Can you bring his body back?”  
  
Zabuza shook his head, “You already know we can’t. Even a crew member’s body can’t be brought back. It’s regulation.”

“Fuck that, it’s sacrilege.” 

It wasn’t right. The captain had no respect for the dead, and none for the living either if what was said about him was true. Hidan starred at his plate, unable to stomach another bite and pushed his plate away. Zabuza took it and started to eat what was left, which was nearly everything. 

Kakuzu’s body would decompose on some alien planet, no burial, no prayers said over him. Nothing. His god hadn't saved Kakuzu. That was the worst of it, for Hidan. 

Doubt had begun to chip away at his faith, and Hidan hated how Kakuzu’s death made him question his god. He had prayed _ so much_, his belief had run deep, he done what he was supposed to. And all those prayers seemed to have not been heard, or gone unanswered, Hidan didn't know which and was unsure he wanted to find out. Perhaps he was the problem, something in him was lacking and Jashin rejected him.

“Hey,” Hidan said, raising his eyes to Kisame and Zabuza, “Kakuzu has my rosary on him, around his neck. If you find his body, bring it back for me, will you?”

If he couldn't have Kakuzu, at least he could have his rosary.  
  
After a moment and a shared look between them, Kisame and Zabuza nodded.

“We've all lost someone. We'll do our best.” Zabuza said, and with his attention diverted, Kisame filched the last piece of meat from what had been Hidan's meal.

* * *

As soon as they were outside the small craft piloted once again by Sai, their timers began to count down. They had been given four hours, and the numbers glowed blue on their helmets.

Sai’s voice came clear through their headsets, _ “Kisame, Zabuza, confirm that you can hear me.” _

“We hear you.” Kisame confirmed.

_ “Kakashi, Genma?” _ Sai asked. _  
_

_ “We can see and hear. We also have Shino joining us today, he wanted to possibly get a look at what got Kakuzu, see if he might know what it was.” _Kakashi said.

“Great, we have a whole audience today. At least we won't be alone in our last hours.” Zabuza sneered, “Try to keep it down, I don’t want to hear you eating popcorn up there this time. I can't stand the sound of your chewing in my ear, Genma.” 

_“I was hungry, what you want me to starve?”_

_ “You two might want to get moving already, oxygen is wasting and I leave in four hours with or without you.” _Sai reminded the two.

“Let’s go.” Kisame said, and they started off towards the cave.

The day before they had been briefed on what had happened. Were shown the footage from Kakuzu’s mission. All of it, nothing had been kept out. They insisted on being issued real weapons but had only been given the laser weapons they always were given on scouting missions.

They argued as long as they could but no exceptions were made, they knew they were expendable. Even if all the prisoners were killed, the captain would just pick up more somewhere else, even use his own crew if need be. 

Pausing at the entrance to the cave, Kisame checked for tracks but there was nothing in the sand, not even a trace of Kakuzu’s footsteps. With drawn weapons, they went in. The inky darkness of the cave seemed to swallow all the light and they switched on the headlamps on their helmets, and waited. 

_ “The ledge isn’t too far ahead. Be careful, if you fall, you might just fall out the bottom of the planet into space.” _ Genma said over the headset. 

_ “Also, that’s where it came from. The thing that killed Kakuzu.” _Sai added.

“We’re aware, we saw the footage. We saw everything.” Zabuza nearly growled, annoyed, “You think we’re stupid?”  
  
_ “Just be careful.” _ Kakashi told them.

Kisame rolled his eyes and was about to say something when he heard a noise, “All of you shut up, let us do our job.” He turned to Zabuza, “You hear something?”  
  
“Just three idiots who think this is a game.”  
  
_ “We don’t-” _  
  
“Shut up!” Kisame warned, “We need to be able to hear what’s around us.” 

They obviously were not alone. Whatever got Kakuzu was still very much there and everyone knew it. 

The others quietted down, and Zabuza lead the way, sweeping the light from his helmet on the ground ahead of him as he moved, always keeping watch for the body, and his ears open for any sounds. 

There was nothing, no body. No sounds. Just an eerie, deafening silence.

And then they heard it. A slithering sound. 

Zabuza stopped and waited for Kisame to join him at his side. 

“You heard that, right?” Kisame asked.

With a nod, Zabuza held his weapon at the ready and Kisame followed suit. Together, they moved deeper into the cave, the sound of slithering stopped. 

“Shit.” Kisame swore.

“Scared?”  
  
“You know you’d be lying if you said you weren’t.”  
  
Not responding to that, Zabuza pressed the comm button and asked, “Someone tell us where the hell his body’s supposed to be, cause we don’t see it anywhere.” 

_ “A little ways ahead, there’s a ledge. It drops off suddenly, be careful…” _Genma told them.

Once they reached the edge, they peered over into the pitch black, their lights not reaching the bottom. They moved away and started looking for what was left of Kakuzu. Kisame remembered Hidan’s request and would do his best to bring his rosary back for him. 

“It came from here.” Zabuza said, following the tracks, walking backwards, not turning his back to the edge of the abyss and risk getting drug down to hell, “Over to here. And it got him right here. Look.” He shined his light on the ground, dark stains colored the dirt. Dried blood. There were tracks, either coming from or going back to the ledge, almost like snake tracks. Some wide, others tiny.

“Whatever it was, or is,” Kisame said, “it took his body. Maybe even ate it. Probably ate him going by that footage we saw.” 

“I think we should get out of here, before it comes back for us.” 

_ “Your mission is to find out what killed him.” _ Kakashi reminded them, his earlier friendly tone gone.

“Fuck that.” Zabuza ground out, “You think we’re just going to sacrifice ourselves for your damn mission?”  
  
_ “Try to find something.” _

“There’s nothing to find if it doesn’t want us to find it. Want us to jump into that pit?!” Kisame snarled.

The next voice they heard was unexpected,_ “If that’s what it takes. I think you forget your place. I own you. You have three hours of oxygen left. I want to know what’s living down there.” _

Kisame and Zabuza shared a look. So, the captain was there, too. That explained the change in Kakashi’s tone.

“Shimura.”  
  
_ “That’s Captain Shimura to you. You will be left behind if you don’t complete your mission.” _

Zabuza unclipped something from his belt and threw it over the ledge, watching with the light from his helmet as it reached what he thought may have been the center point before falling. 

They watched, and waited, listening for it to hit the bottom but there was nothing. Not even the slithering sound that they had heard earlier, or that Kakuzu had heard when he threw something in. 

“It’s not down there.” Kisame said as he felt a prickling between his shoulder blades and slowly turned around with Zabuza.

Standing, hunched over with arms crossed over himself, was Kakuzu. His suit was gone, along with his helmet. Dried blood covered him.

_ “Holy hell is that him?! He’s actually alive!” _Genma shouted.

A scuffle was heard and the next voice was that of the captain’s, _ “Bring him back. Now!” _

* * *

The unsettling feeling of being watched roused Hidan from sleep and he felt the hair on the back of his arms stand on end. He opened his eyes to look into crimson and emerald eyes. His heart nearly stopped in his chest. Kakuzu. But no… Kakuzu was dead. 

A tendril snaked out from between the heavy stitching on Kakuzu’s arm to touch Hidan’s cheek and he held his breath as he watch it come near him. 

The touch was soft, and as much as Hidan wanted to run, he was frozen to the spot as the thread increased it’s pressure against his skin. The tip was razor sharp, and Hidan's breath caught as it sliced his cheek before pulling back, as if it were an accident.

As Hidan’s eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw red smears all over Kakuzu. Blood. It coated his rosary that hung from his neck, staining it dark. 

Whatever that was standing over him, it wasn’t Kakuzu. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sci-fi is hard to write... I've been working on this off and on since November, and this is the first time I've written Zabuza, I hope did alright with him. 
> 
> Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear what you thought, but please be respectful. 
> 
> I'm also on tumblr @zombie-honeymoon if you'd like to stop by and say hi and see what else I'm working on.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, feel free to leave a comment, I love to hear from readers! :D


End file.
